be affected by the duality between traditional preservationist thoughtand postmodern claims of success.

Music has always been a dominating theme in New Orleans andSouther, who teaches history at Cleveland State University, spendssome time on the musical traditions. He focuses on how the NewOrleans musicians and bands use the city in marketing constructions.Souther notes ‘‘Only three of six musicians in the famed New OrleansRhythm Kings actually called New Orleans home’’ (104). This bookexplains the creation of Preservation Hall and other venues and groupsthat saved or hindered New Orleans music, depending on your view.This duality continues through the discussion of Mardi Gras as well.

The two main lines of thought throughout New Orleans history cometogether in the discussion of the battle for Mardi Gras. The result is anin-depth account of the history between the old line and new line krewesand how different traditions have been preserved or destroyed during theMardi Gras festivities. Old line krewes such as Rex, Comus, and Momusare discussed along with the new line Bacchus, Endymion, and Orpheusto give the reader a glimpse into the battle over the historic parade.

Throughout the book is the underlining current of dissension betweenthe historic preservationists and the postmodern recreationists. From thebeginning of the book, this dissension is attributed to money, class,religious separation, and cultural difference within the city’s population.The control of cultural production and the battle for tourism forces eachside to make amends to the other, which shapes the image of NewOrleans. Souther offers a riveting historical account of how the duality ofthe Crescent City will continue to draw tourists throughout the years.

Eric James AbbeyOakland Community College

The Politics of Zoos: Exotic Animals and Their Protectors. JesseDonahue and Erik Trump. DeKalb: Northern Illinois UniversityPress, 2006.

One would think that the welfare, care, and love of exotic animalswould draw people together to cooperate for the greater good. Perhapsin a perfect world they would, but not ours. From reading The Politics of

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Zoos, one sees the continual bickering, fighting, and hostilities betweenzoos, animal humane or conservation organizations, and governmentagencies have done more harm than good. The Politics of Zoos describeshow a few zoos, aquariums, and the people concerned with the welfareof exotic animals formed the American Zoo and Aquarium Association(AZA) in 1924. This book focuses on AZA growth over the last fortyyears which was not easy, but clearly illustrates there are good peoplefighting for the welfare of all animals.

The nonprofit AZA represents over two hundred accredited zoos andaquariums, which draw more than 143 million visitors each year. Al-though these numbers represent growth in public interest, they have notalways been so high. Throughout much of its history, the AZA struggledinternally with many issues, including who could belong to the organ-ization and who could not, as well as with government interference andlegislation, self-regulation, accreditation, a code of ethics, education,research, and conservation. The AZA also tried to answer some extremelycomplex questions, for example, should only zoos have the right to careand house exotic animals? Who should import and breed them? Whoshould sell and euthanize exotic animals? Does the tax paying publichave a voice, and where do for-profit and roadside zoos fit in?

Certain key issues weave their way through the book, especiallyeducation, conservation, and research. Educating the public aboutexotic animals and their habitat has long been a mandate at many zoos,and was used to justify their existence, to keep public opinions high,and to raise funds. Later, research and conservation would also be usedto justify the existence of zoos. While education, conservation, andresearch are extremely important to zoos and science, many animalwelfare and conservation groups (and some zookeepers) wondered ifthis justified taking exotic land and sea animals from the wild. Bostonopened the first aquarium in the United States in 1859, followed byNew York City, which opened the first American zoo in 1860. In recentyears public education expanded to include habitat protection, thebush meat trade, and events like Earth Day.

One lesson this book offers is that it is important to play nicely withothers. For a long time the AZA did not heed this message and theydid not get along with the federal government, animal welfare andconservation organizations, or even with some of their members.Eventually, the AZA realized that it is better to work with every-one than against everyone. Another useful lesson was that lobbying

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Washington politicians should not be neglected because those opposedto zoos and what they stood for were a strong political lobby. The AZAlearned that the wheels of government turn slowly, especially withregard to animal legislation. While the AZA did not always get theexotic animal legislation that they and their zoos needed, they learnedhow to navigate and negotiate within the American political system.

Jesse Donahue and Erik Trump, both political science professorsat Saginaw Valley State University, present an unbiased book, welldocumented with photographs, notes, a selected bibliography, andindex. While rather a dense book, it is worth reading to learn howfar American zoos have come and how far they have yet to go as animportant institution in popular culture.

Melissa AhoMetropolitan State University

Thinking Outside the Box: A Contemporary Television Genre Reader.Eds. Gary R. Edgerton and Brian G. Rose. Lexington: TheUniversity Press of Kentucky, 2005.

Gary Edgerton and Brian Rose did a fine job of choosing and or-ganizing the chapters for Thinking Outside the Box. Their goal was tocreate a ‘‘detailed’’ study rather than an ‘‘exhaustive’’ one. To that end,they chose readings that complemented each other and organized theminto four major sections: issues of historical analysis of television,analysis of traditional genres, new trends and developments intelevision, and television in an international perspective. The resultis a readable and understandable volume that is accessible to studentsand scholars.

The introduction begins with a fine piece by Horace Newcomb and isof particular interest because it describes his experience in the earlygrowth of cultural studies and subsequently the study of television.Newcomb’s article is lucid, clear, and sets an excellent foundation for therest of the work. Jason Mittrell’s article in the same introductory sectionemphasizes that genre should not be studied as an isolated form, butthat genres develop within the ‘‘specific instances’’ and within thelarger media framework. He then offers five major points of analysis to

558 Book Reviews